1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to injection molding machines and, more particularly, to a machine base for an injection molding machine which is welded together of die-cut and die-formed sections of steel sheet and which accommodates a longitudinal discharge conveyor underneath the die closing unit.
2. Description of the Prior Art
It is known to construct the machine base for an injection molding machine by welding together sections of heavy-gauge steel sheet. The resulting machine base is generally in the shape of an elongated block, forming a large reservoir chamber for hydraulic fluid between a rear end wall and an intermediate transverse partition wall, while carrying the die closing unit above an open chamber in the forward portion of the machine base. Examples of this type of machine base are described in German Pat. No. 21 12 310 and in German Offenlegungsschrift No. 23 37 276 and in the corresponding U.S Pat. No. 3,761,214 and No. 3,988,099.
Heretofore, it has been a common, well-established feature of this type of machine base to have the parts discharge conveyor arranged in the machine base in such a way that the conveyor extends transversely through one of the two longitudinal side walls of the base member, the parts discharge extremity of the conveyor being as a rule located on the same side on which the machine operator is normally positioned.
It has been found that this decades-old arrangement of the parts discharge opening in a machine base side wall can lead some machine operators, especially those of limited training, to react to machine malfunction by reaching into the work space of the machine base through the parts discharge opening, in an attempt to circumvent the closed safety cover of the die closing unit which covers only the longitudinal sides and the top of the latter.